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Literary notes about Slowly (AI summary)

The adverb "slowly" in literature often serves to underscore a sense of measured progression, deliberate change, or introspection. Authors deploy it to guide readers through a scene with an unhurried focus, be it in the languid movement of a character—as when a bat flitted slowly by in a moment of eerie calm [1] or a monarch’s words ushered in the break of a new day [2]—or in the careful, almost ritualistic unfolding of actions, such as gradually opening one’s eyes to a new reality [3] or a character slowly prostrating themselves [4]. In narrative passages, its use can evoke both physical motion and the gradual evolution of moods or events, from the slow subsiding of chaos after a celebration [5] to the creeping advancement of time in a suspenseful moment [6]. In dialogue, it may even hint at reluctance or emphasis, lending a weighty deliberateness to each slowly chosen word [7]. Across these varied examples, “slowly” functions as a subtle yet powerful tool, inviting readers to dwell on each moment as it unfurls.
  1. Profound Darkness again surrounded him, and the silence of night was only broken by the whirring Bat, as She flitted slowly by him.
    — from The Monk: A Romance by M. G. Lewis
  2. While thus the high-souled monarch spoke To the stern queen, the Morning broke, And holy night had slowly fled, With moon and stars engarlanded.
    — from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki
  3. At that moment, Marius slowly opened his eyes, and his glance, still dimmed by lethargic wonder, rested on M. Gillenormand.
    — from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
  4. He came to her, fell at her knees, and slowly prostrating himself, he took the tip of her foot which peeped out from beneath her robe, and kissed it.
    — from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
  5. At last, as the cheering and hammering slowly subsided, a voice could be made out saying, "Well, I do not propose to detain you much longer"—(great
    — from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
  6. The minutes passed very slowly: fifteen were counted before the library-door again opened.
    — from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë
  7. "I prefer not to," he respectfully and slowly said, and mildly disappeared.
    — from Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street by Herman Melville

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